Stepping in the Write Direction

I received an advance copy of The Big Shakeup by Nancy Boyarsky for review purposes. This is book number 7 in Boyarsky’s “Nicole Graves Mysteries”   series, all books are stand alone, so no unexpected cliffhangers. The first thing I did was buy the first book in that series, The Swap, which is currently available for $0.99, as Amazon has been doing special sales on “First in Series” books this month. I read it and loved it. The story line was interesting, I enjoyed the characters, there was suspense, tension, and mystery that kept you coming back for more, until you got about two thirds into the book, and then you just didn’t want to set it down until you were done. The Big Shakeup is similar in those respects.  The book opens with private investigator Nicole Graves arriving just before dawn for her workday at Colbert and Smith Investigations in Los Angeles. She hears some concerning noises and checks them out only to find someone hastily leaving the office; her glimpse of the...

If you’re alone and it’s after dark, I dare you to listen to the Audible sample for The Swap by Nancy Boyarsky, but first you may want to make sure you locked all your doors, and all windows are secured. I probably listen to hundreds of Audible samples every month, and this one really stood out to me.  Boyarsky has the ability to capture the enormity of a marriage coming apart, defined by subtle but powerful moments when a husband telegraphs utter disrespect and disdain that catapults a wife’s panic as she senses something is wrong, her husband doesn’t love her any more, and how desperately she seeks to fix it. Such moments may be as small as a fleeting scowl of impatience, the way he walks ahead of her like an angry father whose child struggles to keep up with with his impossibly long strides, and an unmistakable sense of isolation from his repeated absences. The author paints just such a powerful, relatable picture in only a few well placed sentences. Ray Bradbury studi...

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain, similar to another of her books, The Push, touches on the tipping balance of power in a relationship, and within the parents themselves, when a child comes into their lives. Up until that point a woman always has the freedom and options a husband does, presuming employment is equally remunerative.  The books also involve the societal shift towards a couple becoming parents, the tribal expectations and responsibilities placed on male and female in this life passage, that impacts mothers more heavily, often in ways never anticipated, and frequently out of sync with the hard won equality in the workplace and widely evolving global community of the last century.  Audrain’s narrative is further concerned with the internal dialogue women have with themselves as they are abruptly redefined by the outside world upon becoming mothers, and grappling with the enormity of this seismic psychological shift at the very moment they feel overwhelming responsibil...

A Quitter’s Paradise by Elysha Chang  is a  powerful book about autonomy, obligation, and love in relationships, family, and between sexes, as told through disparate stories of interconnected lives.   You might say life is a quitter’s paradise. Or rather the difficulties and challenges in life lend themselves to frustrations that could lead one to give up or quit. A Quitter’s Paradise  is as much a story about connection building, as it is about the lack of connections, and the stories we tell ourselves to come to terms with our lives’ deficiencies. The book follows immigrants from Taiwan who marry and their adult children’s relationships. Rita, who has a largely adversarial relationship with both her daughters, admonishes Eleanor : “You think you are escaping me? By getting married? Let me tell you the truth. A woman never escape.” In this book there are numerous stories about relationships covered, some healthy, and some predatory. Eleanor later seems to share...

The Birds of the Air by L. H. Arthur was compelling reading. I got a heads up about the Kindle edition being on sale for $0.99 from Ereader News Today, so listened to the Audible sample, then ordered the Kindle sample, and the minute the sample ended I immediately purchased the Kindle edition with Audible narration. I practically read it in one sitting, and barely did any highlighting of passages because I was turning pages so quickly to see what would happen next!  The story takes place in 1933. Two sisters are in the yard while mom makes a grocery run. The older sister is hanging out the wash to dry, and turns to see her younger sibling talking to a man near the street. She becomes alarmed and rushes over.  “The man stayed where he was, smiling in a way that looked almost friendly, but not quite. He was short for a man, and stocky; his face was red, with threads of darker-red veins worming beneath the skin of his nose and cheeks. An odd construction of sticks and wire hung o...

Regarding Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, one Amazon reviewer wrote, “Like Being Inside a Fun House That Wasn't Fun.” That comment made me want to revisit this author. Other reviewers have described Wise Blood as “‘low comedy and high seriousness’ with disturbing religious themes.” In the Author’s Notes to the 1962 edition, she wrote, “The book was written with zest and, if possible, it should be read that way. It is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui [in spite of himself], and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death.” She continues, “Does one’s integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen.”   I’ve always considered myself a fan of O’Connor’s work, but it’s been a very long time sinc...

If you’re lucky and had great parents, you come from a place of optimism and possibilities. Like the Little Engine Who Could, you keep on chugging whatever the circumstances are. Divorce is rarely an expectation, never something wished for as a child or an adult, because you’re not a quitter or anyone who wants a family split. One thing is certain, if you’ve experienced divorce, you can connect with other people’s similar experiences and feelings about it. It’s a bridge of commonality that spans differences such as who you hated and who you loved in the last election, what kind of music is best, or whether you believe God exists or not. Poet and author Maggie Smith’s book You Could Make this Place Beautiful: A Memoir surely resonates with many as it is a series of vignettes about her thoughts and experiences going through a divorce as a mom of two and a serious writer. It is a poignant, humorous look at a painful time, that in the hands of a poet, deftly lays bare the human and soc...